Mad Cow: Stories You Might Have Missed

While our daily headlines provide an in-depth look at the biggest stories related to anti-consumer food and beverage activism, there are dozens more that we simply can’t get to. Here’s a sampling of the mad cow stories that have been on our plate today.

Columnist: Scared about getting mad cow disease? We’re 2,000 times more likely to be obliterated by a near-earth asteroid

CCF on mad-cow risk and organic beef: “You’re talking about an infinitesimal risk of transmission in conventional beef to begin with. If you’re going to pay an extra 40, 50 or 100 percent for organic beef you may feel warm and fuzzy, but you are not harvesting any real benefit.”

CCF on misnamed “Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine” and its cynical use of mad cow fear to promote PETA-style dieting: “Steering an unsuspecting public toward a radical animal-rights lifestyle isn’t very ‘responsible’.”

A glimpse inside the mad-cow PR machine: The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Mark Ritchie pre-records his radio-interview sound bites!

It was only a matter of time: PETA starts handing out “vegetarian starter kits” in Nashville and Chicago

Anti-industrial-farming activists jump on the bandwagon, complain about “broken” system

San Diego editorial calls for “less hysteria” in protecting against mad cow disease

Could it be that the “American” mad cow came from Canada?

No matter, says the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis: “Even for people in Washington, the risk is probably zero or as close to zero as scientists ever dare say”

And even the practiced food-scaremongers at CSPI agree: “The risk here is low.”

John “Chicken Little” Stauber on CNN: “In Europe and Britain, they test virtually every beef animal for mad cow. That’s what we should be doing in the United States. The public should be very concerned about this.”

What do real scientists think? Here’s one, from the University of Minnesota: Testing all animals “would be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds … The sky’s not falling.”